For four weeks before Christmas we waited and hoped and expected the coming of God in human form. At Christmas we said, “it’s here!” Now what? Today, January 6, is Epiphany – from the Greek word meaning “appearance” or “coming.” Traditionally, during this season Christians celebrate the appearance of divinity on earth through Jesus, starting with the story of the wise men from the East this Sunday in worship.

We have waited for, hoped for, expected that hope, peace, joy and love would come again. They have come in Jesus, and now what? Now we carry hope, peace, joy, and love into the world. We come together in worship and go out to serve. Continuing with our recent Spanish/English worship themes, during Epiphany we say, “Vengan…Let’s Go!”

We are under no illusion that this is easy. Nearly every day we are reminded of the brutality and apathy that undermine the creation of God’s beloved community as well as creation itself. Yet it is through the likes of us, as imperfect as we are, that God works. Denise Levertov’s poem entitled “On the Mystery of the Incarnation” puts it this way:

It’s when we face for a momentthe worst our kind can do, and shudder to knowthe taint in our own selves, that awecracks the mind’s shell and enters the heart:not to a flower, not to a dolphin,to no innocent formbut to this creature vainly sureit and no other is god-like, God(out of compassion for our uglyfailure to evolve) entrusts,as guest, as brother,the Word.

I hope to gather with you on Sunday to celebrate the Word, then go out to share and live and be the Word.

Central Christian Church is a member of the Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. As part of the one body of Christ we welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us.